Throughout time, no other gem has captured the world’s imagination quite like the diamond — revered by royalty, celebrated by Hollywood and treasured the world over. What is it about these brilliant stones that captivates so completely?

Explore the blockbuster exhibition The Nature of Diamonds at the Royal Ontario Museum. This show has dazzled audiences from New York to Tokyo, and now it’s Toronto’s turn to fall under the spell of these precious jewels.

Who were the Trypilians? How were they able to build the largest settlements in Europe, well over five thousand years ago? And why did they burn them down? These and other questions are explored in this fascinating exhibition that uncovers the secrets surrounding this mysterious people.

Nestled in the forest steppes of modern-day Ukraine, the prehistoric Trypilian people lived and prospered between 5400 and 2700 BC. Highly sophisticated, the Trypilians were both farmers and hunters. Their ability to adapt to different terrain led to their prosperity, and soon they had the largest population growth of any other Neolithic people. They built the largest settlements in Europe at that time, some with an estimated population of 10-15,000 people. Every 60 to 80 years, they burned some settlements to the ground and moved to settle another location.

In 1896, Ukrainian archaeologist Vikenty Khvoika discovered one of these settlements near the village of Trypillia. The artifacts he uncovered were instrumental in reconstructing the daily lives of this prehistoric civilization. Ancient Ukraine presents household tools, evidence of clothing, spiritual artifacts and art, all of which help to build the story of how the Trypilians lived, flourished and then all but mysteriously disappeared.